PGE: Streetlights Not Place To Save Power

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PGE: Streetlights Not Place To Save Power Safety More Important Than Saving Watts

Liz Wood, Staff Writer May 7, 2001, 6:38 p.m. PDT

PORTLAND -- Despite an energy shortage across the West, streetlights will continue to burn bright.

Portland General Electric says that safety is more important than saving a few kilowatts of energy, KOIN 6 News reports.

PGE says that in comparison to other electrical uses, streetlights do not consume very much power.

"But they do offer safety benefits that may far outweigh any energy savings achieved by turning them off, even during this energy crunch," PGE's Dan Gauger says.

Streetlights make up less than one-half of 1 percent of PGE's total electrical load, and 75 percent of the time, the lights are on during off-peak hours.

Utility officials say that crews would have to turn off each light individually by removing the photocell of lamp, and that with 148,000 lights in PGE's service area, "turning off even 10 percent of them would require a monumental (economic) effort," Gauger says.

http://www.channel6000.com/c6k/news/stories/news-75890520010507-180537.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 08, 2001


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